Editing GAP files and running GAP in Emacs buffers

(Written 20 Feb 1993)
(Revised 1 Nov 2011)

The files "gap-mode.el" and "gap-process.el" provide modes for both editing
GAP programs in Emacs and running a GAP session within an Emacs buffer.
Brief installation instructions are given at the end of this document.

Editing GAP files in Emacs

Opening any file ending in ".g" or ".gap" should automatically put you into
gap-mode, the major mode for editing of GAP code. This mode may also be
invoked in any buffer at any time by typing M-x gap-mode.

Once in gap-mode there are some notable changes in the behaviour of Emacs.
Whenever you press return for a new line Emacs will reindent the current
line and auto-indent the new line (this behaviour can be deactivated). At
any time, the TAB key will reindent the current line, M-q will reindent
each line in the current region, and M-C-q will reindent each line in the
whole buffer.

Gap-mode will add indentation for if..then structures, function definitions
and all looping structures,

as well as indenting continued statements (those that cross a line break)
in a number of different ways. For example, it will attempt to match up
each line of a matrix,

x := [ [ 1, 2, 3 ],
[ 4, 5, 6 ],
[ 7, 8, 9 ] ];

and the arguments of a function call,

Print ( a, b, c
d, e, f ); .

There are quite a number of variables that control how gap-mode indentation
behaves. Consult the help for gap-mode by typing C-h m for a list of the
variables (and the features of gap-mode in general), and then C-h v <var>
for a description of what the variable <var> controls. It is also
suggested that you read the GAP menu in emacs to find the commands which
might be useful.

Running GAP in an Emacs buffer

Type M-x gap to run a GAP process with input and output through an Emacs
buffer. Any text typed at the end of the gap buffer will be sent to GAP
when the RETURN key is pressed, and GAP's output will be appended to the
end of the buffer. The mode is based on comint-mode.

Moving back through previous commands is slightly different. Use M-p and
M-n for previous and next input. The command M-l will find the last
input that matches what has already been typed. There are some other
features that are inherited (as these are) by using comint-mode as a base
(see the documentation for gap-process-mode by typing C-h m in the gap
buffer, and also the help for comint-mode: C-h f comint-mode).

TAB will complete as usual, except that if there is no unique (partial)
completion then the list of completions will be given immediately in a
separate Completions buffer. Similarly the help function ?, which will
ask for a topic (defaulting to the current identifier), will give its
results in a Help buffer instead of the gap buffer.

In fact, if a GAP process is running in the gap buffer and NOT BUSY with
a calculation, then completion and help are also available in the gap
editing mode (gap-mode) by typing M-TAB and M-? respectively.

When starting up the GAP process, giving a prefix argument to the command
(eg by typing C-u M-x gap) will cause the contents of the current buffer
to be given to GAP as initial input, and GAP will behave exactly as if you
had typed all the current buffer contents into the new gap buffer. You
can also send the contents of the current buffer to the gap buffer later
via C-c C-b, or if the buffer is backed by a file by C-c C-f which
sends Read statement and therefore is faster. You can also send the
current function defition, current statement, or current region.

There is support for adding local variable statements to functions. Typing
C-c l while in a function definition will add (or regenerate) a statement
with all the local variables. Unfortunately, it will incorrectly view
global variables as being local if they are assigned to. Typing C-c a
will add the current identifier to a preexisting local variable list (or
creates a new one if gap-local-variable-inserts-statement is non-nil).

to your .emacs. Finally, run package-list-packages, find gap-mode, type
i (for install) and then x (to execute). It will download the latest
version and install it automatically. Running package-list-packages in
the future will allow you to easily updage gap-mode.

Manual Installation

Put the files "gap-mode.el" and "gap-process.el" into a directory in your
Emacs lisp load path, and add the following lines to your ".emacs" startup
file.

If you like to see the help inside emacs, but use other settings inside a
terminal then you can add the following to your .gaprc file:

# Versions 4.4 and 4.5 use different formats for environment variables
if (IsRecord(GAPInfo.SystemEnvironment) and
IsBound(GAPInfo.SystemEnvironment.INSIDE_EMACS )) or
(not IsRecord(GAPInfo.SystemEnvironment) and
Filtered(GAPInfo.SystemEnvironment,
x->Length(x) > 13 and x{[1..13]} = "INSIDE_EMACS=")) then
# Emacs colors the prompt anyway
ColorPrompt( false );
# See help in emacs
SetHelpViewer("screen");
# Print all the help without paging -- faster and more robust
PAGER := "tail";
PAGER_OPTIONS := [ "-n" ];
else
# Whatever pager etc. you like in a terminal
fi;

Authors

Originally written by

Michael Smith
Mathematics Research Section
Australian National University.

Contributions by Gary Zablackis and Goetz Pfeiffer

Now maintained by

Ivan Andrus

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